CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many displaced workers in North Carolina are having difficulty getting much-needed unemployment benefits because of the third-party verification system the state’s Division of Employment Security is using.
Several viewers have contacted Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke because they’re having to wait weeks or even months to get the money that they said they qualify for and desperately need.
DES, which administers the unemployment program, uses an outside company, ID.me, to verify people’s identity. The company is used by many other government agencies for the same purpose.
Kim Ingle and Reba Covington said the system is hard to navigate and they’ve had difficulty contacting the company and speaking to someone to get help. “It’s frustrating,” Ingle told Stoogenke. “I’ve got pages of just what they said, what I’m supposed to turn in.”
“It made me cry a few days because my bills are not getting taken care of,” Covington said.
Covington got her issue resolved, but she said it took six months. “I thought it would just at the most be a month,” she said.
Stoogenke contacted the state for on Ingle’s behalf and she got the help she needed a few days later. “ID.me finally sent me an email with a link … It only took 5 minutes[.] I hope they get a better system for everyone,” she wrote in an email.
ID.me states that it’s not easy to spot criminals trying to trick the government out of unemployment benefits. It showed Stoogenke ads for workers’ personal information on the dark web. It also said some scammers use masks to try to outsmart video verification. According to the company, it has “blocked $1 billion in fraud each week” nationally.
The company also said 90% of claimants verify their identity in less than five minutes and others need fewer than ten minutes.
ID.me told Stoogenke: “For those who have sought support from WSOC, the ID.me team is here to assist you in this process. These individuals have all been escalated to the member support team and contacted directly by an ID.me representative for direct support. We have also included additional tips with a step-by-step guide on our website.”
Stoogenke has been exchanging emails with state unemployment officials about the issue with ID.me since Aug. 12. The agency did not provide a statement in time for this report.
Stoogenke suggests that if you’re having trouble getting verified through the system, make sure you keep good records, be persistent and contact Action 9 if you’re still having a problem.
(WATCH: Weekly $300 federal unemployment benefit set to end in NC)
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